A Blank State of Mind
by afiajoi
Summary: (Based on a prompt by a YouTube Video) During the battle of the Department of Mysteries, Hermione and Harry are confronted by Lord Voldemort. Eager to prove his point Voldemort erases all of Hermione's memories of magic. In the lead up to the second wizarding war, Harry and the others are desperate to restore Hermione's memories but she is no longer who she used to be.
1. Chapter 1

**A Blank State of Mind**

_**(A/N: This piece was definitely inspired by the YouTube video 'I Created a Scene to Make Voldemort as Hate-able as Umbridge. It Worked' by Uniquenameosaurus. I used his scene as the initial prompt for my story.**_

_**Also obligatory copyright talk, all characters and (most) settings are property of JK Rowling and all affiliated partners/companies)**_

_Chapter 1: Out with the Old, In with the New_

To say Hermione's surroundings were chaotic would be an understatement. Curses and charms were being fired in every direction. The duels between the death eaters and the order members were happening at such a rapid pace, Hermione was suffering from motion sickness just thinking about it. She was struggling to remain calm and logical and most importantly she was failing at being any use to those who needed her right now. She really didn't feel like a Gryffindor at this moment.

Trying, and failing, to emulate the order members she admired so greatly as her spells missed death eater after death eater. Hermione was used to being praised (and occasionally scolded) for being so mature for her age yet now in these moments fifteen had never felt so childish, hardly on the cusp of womanhood. Her mind was racing, a million thoughts, sentiments and feelings, so many choices, endless possibilities and outcomes and fears and mistakes and -

"Hermione, snap out of it. I – We need you right now." Ron's hoarse voice pulled her out of her mind and this time she was grateful for his bluntness. Her friends needed her and Hermione was not about to let them down.

Seeing an opening, Hermione darted to wall that was strategically located near the sole exit. It meant that no one could sneak up on her as she was angled in a way that made her a much smaller target. But most importantly, anyone that was leaving or entering the room had to pass her which made it a lot easier to incapacitate foes. Scanning the room, she noticed that Rabastan Lestrange was relatively isolated making him as easy target.

"Stupefy!" The robed death eater crumpled to the ground, reassuring Hermione that she could do this. She briefly locked eyes with Kingsley and he gave a her quick nod of acknowledgement. Now she was certain that she could do this.

Hermione continued to scan the room and fired spells at death eaters who she could clearly target with minimal risk of injury to her friends. Between the students and the order members it looked like the death eaters were on the ropes. They couldn't hold them off for too much longer. They'd be able to secure the prophecy and get back to school soon. With that comforting bit of knowledge, Hermione started firing off spells at a quicker rate.

A scream filled the air and sounded like a feeling Hermione could not put into the words. It was pain, anguish, regret, grief, sadness and so many other things all in one. It made Hermione's heart throb painfully in her chest and she dreaded to look over in the direction from which it came. The direction of one of Hermione's best friends, Harry Potter.

Reluctantly, Hermione saw that Lupin was restraining a distraught Harry from chasing after a gloating Bellatrix.

Her goading laughter filled the air as she half – sang, half – chanted

"I killed Sirus Black, I killed Sirus Black,"

Her manic grin and sparkling eyes were a sight that neither Hermione nor Harry would ever forget.

Harry's rage filled him with a surge of adrenaline that gave him the strength to barrel out of Lupin's grip and take off after Bellatrix Lestrange. Without even thinking or looking back Hermione followed Harry, she had to help him.

Hermione knew that Harry was a better duellist than her due to his quick reflexes and intuitive spell casting but even Harry couldn't take down Bellatrix by himself especially when he was so consumed by grief and revenge. She had to make sure that Harry didn't get hurt or do anything he'd regret. As Harry's friend, Hermione owed him that much at least.

Due to her shock rooting her to the spot for a few moments, Hermione was now racing down the halls playing catch up. Thankfully, between Bellatrix's taunts and Harry's furious replies their voices became the guide she needed to find them.

Just as Harry's messy hair was in sight, Hermione saw Bellatrix disappear into the emerald flames of the floo network. Her eyes glittering fiercely, her mean spirited laughter bouncing off of the walls and pounding around Hermione's brain. Her face became distorted as the flames swallowed her, making the woman even more terrifying than she was to begin with which was no easy feat in itself.

Hermione had been so consumed in watching Bellatrix flee that she failed to notice Lord Voldemort advance on Harry.

"Expelliarmus" He hissed, as Harry's wand went flying through the air, clattered on the floor and rolled away. Hermione and Harry locked eyes in desperation, just as Harry was about to address Hermione Voldemort continued

"So Harry Potter, here we are yet again and this time you've brought your famous mudblood that I've heard so much about. The infamous Hermione Granger who is frozen uselessly to spot. Such a shame given the high praise you ramble about her any chance you get." Voldemort's gaze left Harry's and lingered on Hermione for a while.

In those moments, Hermione felt as though everything she had ever said, thought or done was on display to him. She knew that now was her chance to slow him down and protect Harry. Yet all she could think about was every deed and misdeed this man comitted, the hours she had spent researching him and learning about his followers. Now, the most feared wizard in Britain's history was analysing her. She desperately wanted to cast a spell or better yet throw her wand to Harry so he could do something. But she didn't, she was paralysed by fear. She was no Gryffindor.

"Hermione, _please_, do something" Harry insisted although she could hear the rising frustration in his voice as he said it.

"Don't waste your breath Potter. Now you're finally seeing them for what they are - disappointments, blemishes on the face of the wizarding community. Yet instead of doing the honourable thing and wiping our faces clean, we proudly and perversely parade them instead."

"You're wrong," Harry rebutted "Hermione, my mother were the two brightest witches of their age. Many other muggleborns have shown far more skill and promise than many of the purebloods have ever shown at Hogwarts. No one at school can even come close to Hermione's scores, even when it comes to magical knowledge outside of Hogwarts, Hermione is unmatched, she -"

Voldemort laughed, a cold cruel laugh without a trace of humour.

"Why do you think that is Potter? Could it be that our history reads like fantasy to them. Our world is so advanced compared to theirs that they try to lose themselves and what they really are by throwing themselves head first into our customs and culture. They steal our magic and our ways and have the audacity to present themselves as true wizards and witches.

The truly believe that they belong here. But they and you and those who agree with you are sorely mistaken. Anyone can memorise textbooks but magic is more than words on the page. Magic is the true essence of a wizard or witches' soul. It is the foundation of our being, our very existence. Everything we do reflects this. But the filthy muggles who have infiltrated our system know this.

They also know that this essence cannot be faked, why do you think there is 'dark' and 'light' magic? There is no such thing as either, you foolish muggle lover. The true difference is those who are here by birthright have no such limitations when it comes to spells. Muggles and their subservient followers punish those who point out the obvious fundamental differences between them and us.

They have earned the names mudblood for a reason. Of course we all bleed the same shade of red. But the 'blood' of a mudblood is tainted, their essence is tarnished for their magic is stolen, unearned. Magic that belonged to squibs and those whose magic is impaired. Magic belonging to pureblood children that was taken to be given to muggles all in the name of 'peace'.

Tell me I'm wrong Potter. Tell me that even you cannot see the sense in what I'm saying"

Voldemort coolly finished his speech, his gaze had long left Hermione's face and returned to Harry's. His face was almost unreadable except the glint in his eyes betrayed the longing that he wanted Harry to agree and abandon Hermione.

Hermione knew better, her magic was not stolen she was born that way. No matter how convincing his speeches may be, he could never take away her right to be here. She knew that if life was film, this would be the moment she raised her wand and cast a spell that knocked Voldemort flat on his arse as due punishment for what he said. But life is not a film and she was still standing motionless, failing terribly for the first time in her life.

"Hermione, if you're not going to use your wand then bloody give it to someone who will!" Harry seethed, frustrations finally boiling over. Hermione swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat at his words and stammered

"St-St-stupefy." the spell left her mouth as a faint whisper and Hermione was horrified to see a couple of red sparks leave her wand and nothing more. She was so pathetic that she couldn't even perform a simple stun charm.

Voldemort's cackle ripped through the air, hitting Hermione like a punch in the chest.

"So Potter, this is the best your precious mudblood can do. This is what qualifies as a Gryffindor, I've seen house elves who were more bold," His eyes had once again landed on her face and Hermione could see they were filled with nothing but contempt for her.

"What do you value most? Your knowledge I presume, actually you value our knowledge. You value something that you shouldn't even have. If Potter is right about you then it wouldn't make a difference if you lost some of that knowledge now would it? If mudbloods truly are the same, then even without your memory of magic you would still _know_ wouldn't you?The same way many true wizarding children instinctively _know what they are_."

"Don't you dare, don't you dare hurt her!Hermione cast protego, get out of the line of fire! Before his spell hits you! Just do something!" Harry's desperate cry pierced Hermione's ears but she was too slow, too scared to defend herself from him.

"Obliviate, let's see how much of a prodigy the mudblood is now Potter" Voldemort said, Harry could hear the smirk in his voice however before he could retort Voldemort continued.

"Not that you'll live that long, Avada Kerdava!" He shrieked as Harry dived for Hermione's wand. If he could reach it in time he may stand a chance, he may live to see tomorrow.

"Protego" boomed Albus Dumbledore, who Harry had never been so happy to see in all of his rather short life.

"Harry, take Hermione and get out of range, leave Riddle to me." Dumbledore instructed, Harry was about to protest before Dumbledore cut him off

"Now!"

Harry half – carried, half – dragged Hermione behind some pillars in the entrance hall of the Ministry of Magic. Once safely behind the cover of the structures he took a look at Hermione.

Her eyes had a glassy, vacant expression similar to the vague look that graced the face of Gilderoy Lockheart after his encounter with the charm in second year. But whilst Lockheart had immediately continued being his animated self, Hermione was still. Too still.

Her body had a limp posture as though her spine was no longer able to support her. There was no sounds from Hermione other than her steady, quiet breathing. It was incredibly unnerving and it made Harry wonder if this was really just a simple memory charm that had been cast. Whatever it was, she needed help immediately.

Hermione was aware of some of her surroundings. She was lying in the lap of a boy whose concerned eyes peered down at her, the intensity of which were not lost behind the thick lenses of his glasses. He had unruly black hair, lightly tanned skin and deep emerald eyes paired with a lithe muscular frame. It was clear to Hermione that he was both active and attractive but now was not the time to be noticing that about him. Just who was he?

She felt that she should know this boy but his face was unrecognisable to her. A swell of uneasiness and exhaustion began to rise in the pit of Hermione's stomach. There were explosions and flashes of light assaulted her senses, it was overwhelming. Just how did she get here and why did she feel so faint all of a sudden. For the last time today, Hermione failed herself as she gave into exhaustion.


	2. Chapter 2

**A Blank State of Mind **

_Chapter 2: Clueless_

Before Hermione even opened her eyes she knew two things:

it was daytime or a bright light was being shone in her face

there was a crowd of people around her bed

And Hermione was wondering why was there a crowd of people around her bed, there was only one way to find out. She opened her eyes and was surrounded by many people but the woman who held her interest the most was,

"Madam Pomfrey, will she be okay? Is there anything you can do to help her?" a red-headed girl asked anxiously.

The woman who had been addressed looked as though she had stepped out of a hospital in the early 20th century. A high slicked back bun, a stern yet caring face and her traditional nurse uniform that Hermione had only seen in films or books. A black pinafore dress paired with a white apron that had a large pouch to store items in. And very neatly on her head sat a nurses cap that made sure any stray hairs would not fall into her line of sight.

"Miss Granger, what do you remember last?" Madam Pomfrey queried. Hermione thought long and hard about the answer.

She had come home for the Easter holidays from...from...school yes. She had greeted her parents excitedly at the train station, she had visited relatives and friends from her neighbourhood. She had even gotten some spending money from her parents as a reward for her wonderful grades so far this year and spent the money on a book but what book? She could clearly picture the shape and size of it but she struggled to remember anything about it. She had read the papers, at least she remembered seeing newspapers in her room. She had spent more time enjoying her holiday and researching...something... she had done her homework already so that was already packed in her carry on. She had taken her belongings and was driven to the station by her parents where they said their goodbyes. She walked towards platforms 9 and 10 and then...nothing.

"I'd have to say, walking towards platforms 9 and 10 at King's Cross Station in order to catch my train but I don't remember anything after that." Hermione croaked, she had no idea that her throat was so dry. She sipped on some water beside her bed and listened.

"I see, dear, do you remember anything about school or more specifically your classes and classmates?" the woman continued. She noticed that at this question, the teenagers staying at her bedside were paying far more attention.

She looked around at each of their faces, taken in their appearances and trying to recall if she knew any of them.

Closest to her left hand side was the boy from earlier. His eyes were still shining with concern and seemed to will her on to remember him? Did she know him? There was a faint pull in her stomach as she looked at him, he pushed his hair back from his face and nervously readjusted his glasses.

"Uh, you do know who I am, right Hermione?" he spoke, his voice was high with emotion and Hermione felt truly remorseful for nothing coming to mind when she looked at him.

"No, sorry" his face crumpled with dejection and Hermione felt a blaze of guilt warm her chest and hastily added "but I feel like I should if that makes you feel any better."

"No, it's fine, I'm sure you'll remember me soon." he didn't sound so sure however Hermione could tell by his tone of voice that she shouldn't push it.

"Well, what about the rest of us? But of course there is no way you could forgot me." A pale, lanky boy with freckles and fiery red hair piped up. Hermione wasn't sure if he was joking or indignant, given the expression on his face Hermione would have to assume both.

Hermione surveyed the other two teenagers. First there was short girl who shared the same fiery red hair and pale skin as the boy who had spoken. With such distinctive traits Hermione knew that they were brother and sister. The sister had warm dark brown eyes that made her seem immediately trustworthy. She had a sweet look and between her wild hair and scuffed shoes Hermione guessed she was quite the tomboy. She smiled at Hermione who happily returned the gesture. Next was a chubby boy who was taller than the girl but shorter than her brother. He glanced nervously between her, the others and his shoes and began to fiddle with the end of his sleeve as Hermione studied him. He had a gentle demeanour however looking at him, Hermione couldn't help but want to scold him slightly for trying to hide. All of their eyes danced with an unspoken agreement that they expected her to remember them. She sighed,

"I don't remember, any of you. I'm sorry, none of you even look familiar. Also, where am I? This doesn't look like any hospital I've seen before, is this ward new?"

Now the lady known as Madam Pomfrey began to look overly concerned.

"Weasley, go get Professor McGonagall tell her to summon the Headmaster at once. It seems Granger's condition is far more severe than we once thought."

Begrudgingly, the tallest Weasley left grumbling under his breath about 'how he couldn't believe it' as he stalked away. Madam Pomfrey's gaze turned to the rest of the group.

"All of you, it is time to leave," the sounds of protest started up amongst them but Madam Pomfrey continued unperturbed "Miss Granger has had enough to deal with and she does not need anymore excitement. Potter you can stay since as per usual you were right in the thick of things and so Miss Granger is most likely to remember you, if anyone," Then without another word she disappeared into her office.

Reluctantly, the other two left and once again Hermione was left alone with the raven – haired boy from earlier. They both exchanged a few awkward glances but just as he was about to breach the silence, Madam Pomfrey returned along with three adults who were dressed in peculiar attire.

Leading the way, was a stern middle age woman. She had a strict face with a uniform appearance. Her hair was pulled back into a low, tight bun and a pair of glasses sat firmly on the bridge of her nose. She was wearing forest green robes that matched the battered pointed hat.

Following behind the green lady, was a man who made Hermione's skin crawl. His skin was greasy and sallow giving him a sickly appearance. His eyes had sunken into his face and glinted as angrily as he looked. His long black hair hanged limply, framing his face. His black robes billowed violently as he strode into the room.

Bringing up the rear, was an elderly man who had to be at least eighty maybe even ninety. He walked with a purpose but Hermione couldn't assess if it was a good or bad one. His half moon spectacles sat on the end of his crooked nose but nothing could mask such kind or wise eyes. His snow white hair and beard were so long that they began to blend into each other. Despite being the last to enter, Hermione knew he was in charge which she was surprised to find so reassuring.

They approached Madam Pomfrey just a few metres shy of the foot of her bed and the adults engaged in a serious but hushed discussion. The boy, who just like Hermione, had been so engrossed in the events of the past few minutes turned to her and said

"'Mione, since you don't remember me I guess I'll have to introduce myself and everyone else. So, um, in that case I'm Harry Potter and we've been best friends since the day Ron and I saved you from the troll in the dungeon in first year. Also-"

Hermione snorted with laughter, he was clearly pulling her leg. Did he really expect her to believe that there were such things as trolls and that the school had a dungeon. What type of school would have dungeons? No way, she grinned and responded

"That's really funny but you don't actually expect me to believe in trolls or anything of the sort do you? Next you're going to tell me that magic is real!" she chuckled. Maybe they were really friends because if so Harry was pretty funny. Harry, it felt nice knowing his name she felt a faint warmth spread to her cheeks. She shook her head, her brown frizzy curls bouncing energetically with the motion.

Once Hermione had calmed down she noticed that Harry, no not just Harry but everyone in the room looked uncomfortable to some degree or another. A mixture of questioning and concerned looks were exchanged before the old man finally spoke.

"Miss Granger, what do you remember about your time at school? Please think as hard as you can, this is of the utmost importance."

Hermione scoured her brain she was fifteen which means that she should have four years worth of memories about this school but there was nothing. No that wasn't strictly true there were a few memories, always the same. The journey to King's Cross heading towards platforms nine and ten and walking away from the same platforms to repeat the journey home. There was no memories of walking onto either platform nor boarding the train or even arriving at school. It was blank.

Hermione recounted this to the teachers as well as Harry who all became increasingly concerned.

The eldest man continued to question Hermione and everyone else in the room seemed to become more distressed by her answers or rather non – answers as she couldn't recall any of the events that were being asked about. With each non – answer she began to question her own sanity. At first she thought it was a joke but with every new question the notion became further removed from her mind.

"Lastly, Miss Granger, do you have any memories of magic or the wizarding world at all?"

Hermione let out the ugliest laugh, followed by a snort. She didn't mean to be rude but they had her for a moment then. She had honestly began to think something was wrong with her but clearly this a joke. She managed to calm herself down and replied

"I'm really sorry, I didn't, I didn't mean to be rude but it's just that there is no such thing as magic. It's just something little kids believe in."

She waited, waited for someone to say something like 'surprise' but it didn't happen. There was silence, insufferable, unbearable silence for what felt like an eternity. Finally, the green lady spoke

"Miss Granger," she said in a hushed, serious tone "I can assure you that magic is in fact very real. In fact, you do realise you're a witch. The brightest of her age to be more specific."

Hermione stared at her blankly. _She_ was a witch? _She_ had powers? It all felt like too much, there was no way this could be true.

"But if I was a witch, surely I would know. Also how do I know you're even telling the truth? Can you even prove that magic is real." Hermione was sceptical for after all science has not been able to prove the existence of magic.

"I say, that we pack her off to St. Mungo's and be done with it," the greasy man drawled "she's _clearly_ a lost cause." he gave Hermione a very pointed look that implied 'we' really meant 'if it was up to me'.

"Now Severus, there's no need for that. Miss Granger will be absolutely fine it will just take some time to find what is lost. Now if she has no memories of magic nor her time here at Hogwarts this could actually be a good thing." the old man said.

"Apologies Professor Dumbledore, I'm not trying to be rude but how on earth is any of this good. Hermione doesn't even bloody know who she is and that's apparently a good thing?"

"Watch your tone Potter." the green lady chastised Harry.

Dumbledore, gave a small smile to Harry then continued,

"It can be used to our advantage, as there are no fragmented memories. As everything has been wiped clean it means there's no chance that previous memories will interfere with the formation of new ones or the re-emergence of old ones." Dumbledore explained and went on

"And to bury all doubt about magic and your identity as a witch Miss Granger," Dumbledore pulled out a brown wooden stick that Hermione could only assume was a wand and waved his arms in a flourish.

Hermione could hardly believe what she was witnessing. The most beautiful flames had shot out of the end of the wand and were rippling in and out of the air in the most wonderful patterns. The colours of the flames changed from the usual vivid orange to a sunset red then becoming a royal purple and lastly a sea blue. The air surrounding the flames shimmered from the heat and Hermione could feel tiny beads of sweat form on her forehead.

This was so much to take in, Hermione could hear the buzz of conversation around her but instead of keeping her awake it was making her even more exhausted. She answered some more questions and even had some time to talk to Harry before Madam Pomfrey shooed him away.

As per her request he explained that she was in the hospital ward at the school. The school they attended was called Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and was the only wizarding school in the country.

The headmaster was Professor Albus Dumbledore who is widely considered to be 'the greatest wizard alive.'

The green lady is actually Minerva McGonagall who is the Professor of Transfiguration and head of their school house which is known as Gryffindor. The Gryffindor house has the symbol of a lion and accepts students who are bravery and chivalry. The house colours are red and gold. All of the teenagers were all in Gryffindor and Hermione is as well.

The rude, greasy man is Severus Snape who is the Potions Professor but really he wants to be the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor. He's also head of the Slytherin House which accepts sly and cunning students. Their house colours are green and silver with a snake representing their house. Although Harry said that the house is filled with purebloods who tend to be supporters of the Dark Lord or at least sympathetic.

The other two houses was Ravenclaw for those who value wisdom and knowledge. Their house symbol was an eagle and the adorning colours are blue and bronze. The last house is Hufflepuff who hard work and loyalty and their colours are yellow and black.

Hermione had no idea what these subjects were, who the Dark Lord is or what a pureblood was and was eager to receive clarity on those. But she refrained herself from doing so as she didn't want to interrupt Harry with a million different questions and end up learning nothing. She did mentally save those questions for later though.

She learnt that the two redheads were the Weasleys. The tallest and most indignant one who had been sent away to find the other staff members was Ron Weasley. Along with Harry and herself they were all best friends and were collectively known as 'the Golden trio'. They had apparently gone on many misadventures together and Hermione couldn't wait to find out the details behind those because she was many things but not a rule breaker.

The girl was Ginerva 'Ginny' Weasley and the two of them were very close, pretty much regarding themselves as sisters. Although Ginny was in the year below them, they all spent a lot of time together. Ginny was more of a tomboy and incredibly talented at Widitch? Something like that, all Hermione had gathered was that it was the school's sport and although Harry had tried multiple times to explain it to her it was too much for her to get her head around. All she knew was that they flew on brooms and that they had to score points using hoops.

The soft spoken plump boy was Neville Longbottom. Whilst also being a Gryffindor he was known for his skill in Herbology as well as his desire to avoid conflict. He was a sweet boy who unfortunately was used to being pushed around by others. However, Harry noted that he had become more confident with asserting himself which was lovely to hear.

Unfortunately, before Harry could elaborate on what he had just told Hermione he was unceremoniously kicked out of the hospital wing since 'she needed her rest.' Hermione didn't want to rest she wanted to ask more questions and she wanted her memories. She wanted to remember magic, she wanted to remember her friends and she really wanted to remember Harry whose eyes sparkled with mirth when he was happy.

Yawning, she lay her head down on the pillow she was sure that they would think of something but a small voice in her whispered as she fell asleep 'what if'.


	3. Chapter 3

**A Blank State of Mind**

_Chapter 3: A Long Way to Go_

The first thing on Hermione's mind the next morning was how long did she have to stay in the hospital wing. However, if she was stuck in here she may as well write down all the questions she had for Harry and the others. Maybe, writing them down would help her memories to return. Since she had a lot of questions it was time to get started:

How did she lose her memory? Did someone curse her and can it be reversed?

What happened in first year and the following years?

What is happening now?

Is it possible to relearn four years worth of magic over the summer?

Hermione scanned her four questions, she felt that they should be more but this was all she could think of right now. At least the answers to the four questions should get her 80% up to speed and the other 20% would hopefully be details that'll be filled in along the way.

She sighed, a long deep sigh and Hermione realised that she's never been so exhausted or fed up in her life. There was no way she was spending more time in this bed or in this hospital. She knew that breaking the rules were wrong but how did they expect her to get better if she was cooped up all day.

Hermione glanced in the direction of Madam Pomfrey's office. The nurse was bustling around her office, pulling small vials off of shelves. She was pouring some of the vials into a cauldron and Hermione saw a puff of purple smoke form above the cauldron and begin to disperse throughout the office. Clearly by the harsh muttering Madam Pomfrey didn't intend for this to happen and began searching frantically for another vial. She was obviously preoccupied and so Hermione decided to use this opportunity to explore the rest of the school.

She felt rejuvenated with excitement at the thought of finally leaving this room. Maybe breaking the rules wasn't the worst thing in the world. She stifled a giggle as she sneaked out of the hospital wing.

Rays of sunlight streamed through the large windows creating pools of light across the stone floors. Portraits of men, women and creatures decorated the walls further down the hallway. As she walked further away from the hospital wing, the chatter of the other students became louder creating a buzz of excitement in the air.

As she walked down the set of stairs at the end of the hallway, she was in awe at how beautiful the castle was. It was a stunning piece of medieval architecture in structure but the inside was adorned with pieces and statues spanning from the early middle ages through to the renaissance and several modern pieces framed the school. Hermione had always loved grand places dedicated to learning which is why she was so attached to her library back home but this school was on a whole another level.

She had been wandering and admiring the halls following the twists and turns of the castle for at least the past thirty minutes. She had thoroughly enjoyed the time to herself without anyone pestering her for questions or even worse giving her such pitiful looks every time she failed to give the answers they expected. She scowled thinking about it, she didn't need to be reminded that she was failure she could do it on her own.

…_**."Hermione, please, do something" Harry insisted although she could hear the rising frustration in his voice as he said it.**_

_**Yet despite his pleas Hermione was still motionless, she glanced at Harry too ashamed of herself to meet his gaze. Harry wasn't focused on her. There was someone else, she followed his line of sight to see.**_

_**Hermione's voice got caught in her throat. The man, no he was too reptilian to be a man was staring right at her.**_

_**Translucent skin that was stretched so tightly Hermione could see the curve and dips of his skull. A low brow bone that cast a deep shadow across where his eyes should be. Instead there were two slits that housed blood red eyes. There was no nose just to slits where the nostrils should be. His mouth was stretched into a thin ghastly sneer that caused the slits to almost disappear except from the glint of red and malice that lit up his entire face.**_

_**Hermione felt herself hyperventilating, she was sick from fear what creature was this. Her hyperventilation got quicker as he approached her. He opened his mouth, the slits were wide with contempt and laughter, he was laughing at her. Her cheeks were wet with tears. He shrieked...**_

"Miss Granger," a bored voice drawled

Hermione shrieked and sobbed louder.

"Miss Granger, please calm yourself. I'm your professor. I mean you no harm." the voice became less drawling and slightly more concerned.

A firm hand was planted on her shoulder, she sobbed again, but the hand did not move and nothing happened. She felt her sobs begin to subside and within a couple of moments she was being steered through the corridors, up the stairs and around the turns.

In what seemed like no time at all the weaving stopped. She peaked through her hands and was greeted by the bright lights of the hospital wing.

Madam Pomfrey looked set to scold her but upon seeing how pathetic she looked clearly thought better of it. Madam Pomfrey guided her to her bed. Once Hermione was settled she was off without another word only to return a few minutes later with a tray of toast and scrambled eggs and a glass of water. The nurse graced her with a gentle smile and Hermione gave her a watery smile in gratitude. With that Madam Pomfrey left for good this time.

Her stomach rumbled and Hermione hadn't realised just how hungry she was. She tucked in and savoured the buttery goodness of the eggs and the soft crunch of the toast. Before she knew it she had finished it all. She sighed contently there was nothing like a good breakfast.

She fished out the paper she had written her questions on earlier.

How did she lose her memory? Did someone curse her and can it be reversed?

Thinking about the singular moment she had remembered about that thing, Hermione was almost certain that she knew who had caused her to lose her memory. But how did it do it? And is there a way to get the rest of her memories back? Hermione knew she could get some of them back evidenced by the flashback. She shuddered thinking about it.

"Hermione! Where did you go? We were looking everywhere for you. We missed breakfast!" Ron bemoaned, at the last remark Ginny slapped him upside the head and scowled at him. Hermione couldn't help but roll her eyes at the boy.

"What Ron _meant_ was that you really scared us, we thought something might have happened to you. But we're glad to see that you're okay, mostly." Ginny explained.

"Mostly?" Hermione pressed, what exactly was she implying was she saying that she would never fully recover.

"Well, Hermione, it was just we overheard the professors talking and Snape said you were crying your eyes out when he found you. He almost sounded sympathetic and if you remembered anything about Snape you'd look as shocked as I sound." Harry chuckled and Hermione felt a spark of joy in her chest.

"Yeah, so why were you crying Hermione? Did Malfoy do something to you?" Ron questioned. Hermione could tell that whilst Ron was not the most tactful person he was coming from a genuine place of concern. Although she had no clue who this 'Malfoy' was. She gave him a friendly smile then replied.

"I don't know who this Malfoy is so no. But I think I remembered something and it, it scared me." she paused wondering how to recount what she thought of earlier.

"Hermione that's brilliant, one second, Ginny's gone to get Madam Pomfrey. Maybe she'll be able to help you regain some more memories." Neville piped up, he had been so silent that Hermione hadn't even realised he was there.

"Sorry, Hermione I didn't mean to startle you since you were lost in thought but Madam Pomfrey said she thought something like this would happen just not this soon. But you've always been an overachiever." Neville teased.

For the first time today, Hermione laughed. She was still scared by what she saw and if things could ever go back to the way they were. But seeing these people who knew that she couldn't remember anything about them be so concerned about her and make the effort to cheer her up truly made her thankful that she had such good friends. She wished more than anything that she could remember them.

Ginny returned with Professors McGonagall, Snape, Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey in tow. Hermione shrank back into the pillows as she became very aware of the large crowd that formed around her bed.

"Miss Granger, Miss Weasley here says you may have regained some of your memories. No matter how sad or distressing the memories were, we need you tell us everything. It's the only way we can help you." Professor McGonagall spoke in an unusually soft tone for such a strict woman.

Hermione nodded and explained why Snape had found her crying in the hallway. When she had finished three different conversations immediately took place.

On one side of the room. Ron, Harry, Ginny and Neville were engaging in a vibrant discussion. The top of Ron's ears had turned red as well as the tip of his nose and he looked increasingly annoyed. Maybe he was disappointed in the memory that had resurfaced. Neville seemed very uncomfortable while Ginny and Harry seemed to alternate between comforting and chastising Ron for whatever insensitive thing he had said.

On the other side of the room, the adults were deep into a serious hushed discussion. The type of discussion that resonated seriousness and made Hermione feel like a little kid eavesdropping on her parents. Snape's face was sour as per last time she saw him so didn't really reveal anything. Pomfrey and McGonagall also had the same concerned and strict looks respectively aside from the intensity in both of their gazes that wasn't there previously. But the greatest change was in Professor Dumbledore, his kind and expressive face was close and grave. His blue twinkling eyes were dimmed by a concern that seemed to weigh heavy on him. His mouth that was usually curved in a knowing smile was set in a grim line like a doctor who had to tell the family that the patient didn't make it.

The happiness that Hermione had felt when she was with her friends had evaporated completely and her fearful mind was now in overdrive. Just what exactly would happen? Did they now agree with Snape and were going to pack her off to St. Mungo's? She took a deep breath, eyes darting between the two groups until the both discussions had died down.

Professor Dumbledore cleared his throat and addressed the room but his gaze was fixed squarely on Hermione. There was nowhere to hide from eyes like that.

"Miss Granger, once again you have surpassed our expectations and have regained a memory far earlier than we thought one may emerge. However, there is still a long way to go in order to fully restore your mind but at least this is a start.

We have decided that you may be permitted to leave the hospital wing as the school year ends in four days. However, you are not to be left unsupervised. As there are no classes, during the day you shall be under the care of at least one your friends," Dumbledore gestured towards the group of teenagers who seemed happy with the news.

"But due to your condition we believe it to be wise that you eat your meals with a member of staff. You'll come to the hospital wing for breakfast, lunch and dinner to eat as well as to check in with Madam Pomfrey to keep her updated on your circumstances. If Madam Pomfrey is unavailable than one of us will step in and later report to Madam Pomfrey." Dumbledore used this opportunity to gesture to himself and the other two professors.

"Lastly, you'll be officially discharged after lunch today. We'll have suitable summer arrangements prepared for you before the school year ends and those shall be discussed with you after the end of year feast. Which, provided you feel up to it Miss Granger, you will be allowed to attend."

As soon as Dumbledore had finished that sentence it was like his entire demeanour had changed. His blue eyes began twinkling and his crooked smile was back in place like it had never left and so he finished his speech

"Now that everything has been discussed, I feel that Miss Granger has more than earned some time with her friends. And with that it is now time for us to take our leave." Dumbledore waltzed out of the door with the other adults close behind.

The group of teenagers all looked at each other, struggling to start talking after everything that had just happened. The piece of paper Hermione was clutching felt as though it was burning her hand and she decided that now was as good as time as any to get answers.


	4. Chapter 4

**A Blank State of Mind**

_Chapter 4: The Creature (Question 1)_

Hermione took a deep breath and finally summoned the courage to break the silence.

"When I woke up this morning, I had an idea that a good way to maybe regain some of my memories would be to write down some questions and have you guys answer them." she stated matter of factly.

"Christ Hermione, only you would be suffering from amnesia and the first thing you decide to do is to prepare some questions." Ron sounded equal parts bewildered and impressed and yet Hermione couldn't help but chuckle and shrug.

"Whilst Ron is right, it's still a really good idea so what are your questions?" Harry added whilst Neville and Ginny nodded in agreement.

"Well, I thought it'd be a good idea that we'd tackle one question at a time and once that question is dealt with we move on to the next one." Hermione felt anxious at the thought of randomly jumping from question to question. Plus it was always more efficient to be methodical in these things.

"So what's your first question Hermione?" Neville asked.

"Was the thing I remembered yesterday responsible for my situation? Even if not, what exactly did happen?" Hermione took a deep breath once she was finished, she needed to know but at the same time she didn't want to. A small part of her wished to run away and make new memories one where demons like that wouldn't haunt her dreams.

"Well, all of us were there that day but Harry was with you until the end. But all of us at one point or another were alone with you so we'll interject when necessary to fill in the gaps." Neville said.

The group exchanged glances until at last Ron cleared his throat.

"I doubt you'd want to hear about the usual like breakfast and classes so I'll start from when things really kicked off." Ron rambled.

"So we were leaving the library because you wanted to do some last minute research on the prophecy concerning Harry, even though you bloody knew everything and then some and unfortunately we ran into Malfoy and his gang of gits who escorted us to Umbridge's office.

We joined the queue of students which were filled with mostly DA members for questioning about 'illegal club activities'," Ron rolled his eyes after recounting this and continued

"Some Ravenclaw girl came out in tears leaving Um-bitch's office and that's when pug – face pansy swarmed over to you and escorted you to be questioned by the woman herself. From here, someone else will have to take over as I was still outside with Luna and a few other DA members." Ron finished.

"So, once inside Umbridge started to press you for answers and was hoping you'd sell Harry down the river," Ginny picked up right where Ron had left off.

"But being the good friend that you are, that definitely didn't happen. By this point she had lost interest in me and Neville and had decided that you were the source. However, neither you or Harry would budge like the stubborn pair that you are so she called for greasy Snape.

She demanded that Snape make you two drink a truth potion but Snape said she had used it all on the previous students. This sent Umbridge off into a rage, I'm talking spit flying everywhere, anyway this is when Harry started shouting about 'Padfoot' and 'Phoenixes' like a lunatic but either way Snape got the message and slinked off.

This is when you did a brilliant bit of quick thinking and somehow persuaded Umbridge to take you and Harry into the forbidden forest. This was genius because once you three had left I finally got my revenge on Malfoy and his cronies." Ginny's eyes had an evil glint in them and her voice had taken a hard edge towards the end.

"So, there we were in the forbidden forest and I had no clue what you were thinking. I had tried to ask but Umbridge put a stop to that immediately, guess she didn't want us 'conspiring'. I'm not even sure you knew what you were thinking or at least that's what you confessed to me after.

So further and further into the forest we went and Umbridge grew more and more impatient but you kept at it. You were so convincing you had even fooled me into believing we had developed some type of weapon. Whether it be by luck or fate we stumbled onto Grwap. That's Hagrid's giant half – brother, he'd always taken a fancy to you." Hermione wasn't sure if she imagined it, but Harry sounded slightly jealous of this 'Grwap' and Hermione couldn't help but feel flattered by the thought.

"Naturally, Umbridge freaked the fuck out and started firing randomly at Grwap who was unsurprisingly very distressed by this. His moans and cries then attracted the centaurs. By merlin's luck Umbridge managed to offend the centaurs who didn't take too kindly to being referred to as 'half breeds' and dragged her away never to be seen again." Harry wiped away a mock tear of happiness.

Hermione couldn't help but giggle at her friends dramatic re – telling of the events leading up to this. Who knew they could cause so much trouble?

"Does any of this sound familiar Hermione?" Neville eagerly pressed.

Hermione shook her head in dismay but gave Neville an encouraging smile and said

"Not yet, but I'm sure it will." Hermione, for the first time since this whole ordeal started, actually believed in her own optimism and it was enough to convince the others who all beamed at her.

"Oh well, after we lost Umbridge we found our way out of the forbidden forest and happened to run into the others. They told us that they were unsuccessful in the attempts of using the floo network to get to the ministry.

That's when Luna told us that we were going to fly to the ministry using thestrals." Harry ended his recount and looked expectantly at Neville. Neville dumbly pointed at herself, clearly not expecting to be included but at Harry's nod he cleared his throat and said.

"So, uh, once we had infiltrated the ministry we followed Harry who quickly led us to the Department of Mysteries. Once inside there were hundreds of giant bookcases with dozens of shelves. Each shelf contained a number of glowing white orbs and the names of people underneath each orb.

Since there were so many orbs it was impossible to see past them and find an exit so we split into two groups. Harry and Luna were one team and Ron, you and I were another. Before we split we agreed that if we found anything we'd shoot green sparks and if we were in trouble red sparks.

As we were wondering aimlessly, hoping to stumble upon an exit, Ron found something of interest. It was one of the white orbs but underneath it had Harry's and Voldemort's name underneath. We all agreed that it was something of interest and shot some green sparks. Soon after, Harry and Luna joined us." Neville's gaze then returned to Harry.

"As soon as I saw it, I knew it immediately from the dreams or rather visions that I've been having. We all decided to take it with us but Hermione, you made a cautioned point that I should be the one to take it off the shelf since it had my name on it. So just like that we fell into their trap." Harry gritted his teeth and his knuckles had turned white, his voice was seeped with bitterness.

His eyes glazed over as the blood rushed to his face, his breaths came out in shudders and he swallowed hard. Before Hermione could stop herself she placed her hand gently on his forearm. Harry looked startled and as their eyes met, Hermione struggled to think of anything to say she wasn't even sure why she reached out to him. But his eyes were clear and he seemed calm and gave her a small smile of thanks which she returned.

Ron cleared his throat and Hermione retracted her hand at lightening speed with a sheepish grin.

"Sorry about that, so once I had grabbed the orb we were surrounded by Death Eaters. Then out of the shadows stepped Lucius Malfoy who started to gloat and boast and is just as insufferable as his son. Nonetheless, he told us that the orb was a prophecy concerning Voldemort and me and that Voldemort wanted it as it was something he didn't have in the last war so he thought it would help him to win. Then Malfoy tried to get us to hand it over as though we gullible idiots.

Then Ginny, in a moment of brilliance, cast protego which caused all of the shelves and the their prophecies to come crashing down. It was amazing but we had to outrun the death eaters first.

We had all split up and ran back into each other so many times, it was pure luck that we all reached the exit at the same time." The top of Ginny's ears and her cheeks were still pink from Harry's praise. Hermione felt the twist of jealousy in the pit of her stomach and grimaced.

"So now we were all stuck in this room, with a dozen or so death eaters. It was a nightmare. We tried to fend them off but like the pricks that they are, they were just toying with us. One of them even punched Neville right in the fucking face! Speaking of which, how is your face?" Ron asked

"It's fine now, thanks to Madam Pomfrey." Neville happily responded which seemed to ease Ron.

"Right, so it was looking bad like real bad, Lucius Malfoy was trying to bully Harry into giving him the prophecy but Harry was defiant as ever and refused. He really tried to stick it to Malfoy as well by trying to smash it on the ground but unfortunately Malfoy saved it." Ron rolled his eyes in annoyance and continued.

"Then the death eaters began taunting us and Bellatrix got this sickly smile on her face, it was obvious they were about to 'dispose' of us except Harry," Hermione felt uncomfortable about how casual he sounded about their almost certain deaths. Ron, however, went on to say that

"But luck was on our side and the Order came swooping in like real life superheroes. It was all happening so fast, I could hardly keep up. Spells were flying everywhere, the fight was insane. I even got in a few critical hits if I say so myself." Ron humble – bragged but Hermione couldn't help but give a wry smile and an eye roll.

"He does say so himself," Ginny teased "Hermione you were very much in your head at the start but once you got over it. Boy, I would not want to challenge you to a duel! Then for some reason you just ran out of the room? Do you remember what happened by any chance?"

Hermione wasn't sure if she remembered any details, it was like by listening to her friends she could get fuzzy bits and pieces of her memories.

"Well I don't remember anything before arriving at the department of mysteries. I remember seeing the prophecy orbs, it was pretty ominous. I recall tons of screaming and shouting after that but where I couldn't say. Then...then... that woman she was insane. I've never seen anyone look so demented in my life. She killed that man. His body just crumpled and then it disappeared behind this veil. Then Harry ran after her and I guess I followed but nothing after that except seeing that thing." Hermione's face was ghostly white and she felt sick just recounting it.

She took a cursory glance around the room and noticed how uncomfortable everyone seemed. Did she say something wrong? Did they know that man? She realised that everyone's discomfort was directed towards Harry. Harry who's face was drawn in a tight pained expression, his eyes were filled with a sad anger that permeated throughout his entire being. When he spoke his voice was strained.

"That woman was Bellatrix, the man she killed was Sirus Black. He was my godfather. They were cousins, she killed her own cousin for no reason. Sirus was meant to be -. She took him from me, the last of my real family." His stare which was hollow and hard was directed at the ground in front of him. Hermione wished the bed would swallow her whole or that she never remembered anything.

"Harry, I'm so sorry, I didn't know, I- " Harry cut her off.

"Hermione. It's fine, you didn't know." Harry stated.

It didn't sound fine but Hermione knew by his tone that arguing would be the worse thing she could do, so she stayed silent.

"I'll finish." Once again, Harry was not allowing any room for negotiation. The room was silent.

"After you followed me, Bellatrix had escaped. In her place stood Voldemort, who disarmed me. You still had your wand but you didn't do anything." His tone had taken an accusatory edge and Hermione slumped down in the bed, trying to hide from the hard edge in his voice.

"He taunted you, taunted me and yet you did nothing. Then he wiped your memory. Voldemort isn't a creature although he looks like one. He's a wizard, same as us. He just believes in blood purity. There your first question has been answered." With that Harry stood up and walked off.

No one followed him.


	5. Chapter 5

**A Blank State of Mind**

_Chapter 5: Grief, Friendship and Forgiveness_

After lunch, Hermione and the others left the hospital ward. It was warm, sunny and an all round pleasant day but it felt wrong. She gazed upon the shimmering blue water of the lake and sighed. No one was really talking. There were a few half hearted attempts at conversation which died as quickly as they started. Harry had vanished an hour earlier, leaving an awkward tension in his wake. Hermione chewed the bottom of her lip, thinking of ways to help him.

He was clearly grieving but how do you comfort a grieving person? She had lost her grandmother a couple of years earlier, she felt a painful throb in her chest at the memory. Her grandmother had encouraged her love of reading, every time she saw her she had always gave Hermione a new book to read. Her parents swore up and down that her grandmother indulged her too much but Hermione was grateful that her grandmother always encouraged her passion for reading and learning.

It's not like Hermione's parents didn't encourage her to read and learn but they always tried to push her into sports or being more sociable than she was comfortable with. Her grandmother, however, understood that Hermione would discover those things when she was ready. She never made her feel bad for 'shutting herself away.'

When she had died, it broke Hermione's heart. She didn't feel angry just hollow. It was a bitter emptiness that tainted everything in her life. Like a poisonous fog had clouded over her life and was slowly eroding the foundations of it. Hermione thought she'd never be able to move on or process the loss of her grandmother. Until the day her grandmother's will was honoured.

Hermione received a handwritten letter that her grandmother had written her before she died. It said how much she loved her and that her time was precious and not to waste it mourning the loss of others. But as well as the letter was the last book her grandmother had ever brought her. Just like everything her grandmother given her it was perfectly thoughtful.

It was an old and battered book that had clearly been loved very well. On the inside of the front cover was a note that read:

'To my dearest granddaughter, Elizabeth

Although I may be gone from this world, I hope you waste no time or tears on me.

I love you more than you could ever know and I hope that one day in the far distant future we will see each other again.

I hope you live a long, happy life filled with love.

Never be discouraged at the hardships or hostility you may face.

Remember, you can always escape or find a solution to your problems in one of two places:

a book

a loved one

Your eccentric grandfather,

David x'

Hermione remembered holding that book in her arms and crying her eyes out. It seemed her and her grandmother were much more alike than anyone else had previously thought. She smiled at the thought. It was as though her grandmother knew her better than she did.

Once she had finished sobbing, she realised that her grandmother had inherited a copy of 'Little Women' from her grandfather. A story about four sisters who have to learn how to become adults and deal with the death of one of their own sisters and how to move on from it.

Hermione smiled sadly, whilst she wasn't sure if it would work. She knew that maybe her own experience could help Harry. She cleared her throat and gained everyone's attention almost immediately.

"Do you guys have any idea where Harry might've gone?" she asked

Neville, Ron and Ginny all exchanged curious glances before shaking their heads to indicate 'no'.

"I do." a dreamy voice piped up, Hermione turned to see the most peculiar girl. Pale and willowy she swayed as though she was in a trance. Her long platinum blonde hair was adorned with flowers and she was wearing a pair of radish earrings. Her prefect badge and tie showed she was a Ravenclaw. Her mellow smile put Hermione at ease but her sea blue eyes were sharp and focused.

"Sorry to hear about what happened to you Hermione. The wifflers are difficult creatures. Notorious for stealing memories. Although all those nargles around your head are making it difficult for your memories to return." She said all of this with a smile and Hermione was too confused to question her.

"I'm Luna by the way, Harry was sitting by himself at the top of the astronomy tower. He seemed rather dour." Luna pointed at the direction of the tallest tower at Hogwarts.

"Thanks Luna, I've got to go and talk to Harry." Hermione felt rude for being so curt with her but she didn't want Harry to leave before she found him.

"No problem. I can take you to him if you'd like." Her sharp eyes zeroed in on Hermione and she knew that Luna knew exactly what she was thinking.

"Yes please, I'd like that a lot." Hermione smiled at the girl.

Neville, Ron and Ginny looked sceptical but didn't stop neither her or Luna from making their way to the astronomy tower.

On the way there, Luna told Hermione all about nargles and thestreals and other wonderful creatures. Hermione wasn't sure which ones were real or not so she listened politely and asked questions when it was appropriate. She was having a lovely time talking to Luna and so was taken aback when Luna stated,

"You've changed Hermione. You have never shown such interest before in nargles or any other magical creatures. In fact, I'm sure you used to roll your eyes or smile politely until I stopped talking." Luna gave her a sad smile.

Hermione cringed, she had never realised she could be so dismissive of others and the ideas that may hold.

"Sorry Luna. Maybe I have changed but I'm sure losing your memories would change anyone. Honestly, I've found a lot of what you told me to be fascinating and when we get the chance I'd like to hear more." Hermione returned Luna's smile who after hearing Hermione's words immediately brightened up.

"I'd like that a lot Hermione. In fact, next time I'll bring you the latest edition of the Quibbler. That's my dad's magazine but I also help pen a few articles here and there as well. It has lots of informations on nargles and such as well current events." Luna grinned.

"I can't wait to read it, thanks Luna looks like we're here." Hermione paused unsure of how to ask Luna to leave without being rude. After all she did guide her here but she wanted to talk to Harry alone. She frowned.

"Unfortunately, I can't stay Hermione so I suppose I'll see you later." Luna smiled but the twinkle in her eye told Hermione that she, once again, knew exactly what she was thinking.

Hermione took a deep breath. Now she was here she couldn't help but feel nervous. She couldn't help but feel that after being petrified and unable to act then losing her memories Harry resented her. Perhaps she was the last person he even wanted to see. She chewed on her lip in agitation. She could always leave, he would never have known she was here but there's nothing more cowardly than leaving a friend in need. She sighed softly and approached Harry.

"Hey, it's a lovely view from up here." Hermione decided to ease her way into the conversation. She didn't want to put Harry on edge by being too direct.

"Yeah, you can see all of the grounds from here and even a lot of the forest. It's truly beautiful especially at night. You can see nothing but stars, it's breath – taking." Harry said absent-mindedly.

They both fell into a mutual silence that was neither comfortable or uncomfortable. Hermione decided to take a seat next to Harry on the window ledge. A cool breeze blew and her frizzy curls were pushed away from her face, her eyes began to tear up slightly and Hermione wasn't sure if it was the wind or the topic she was about to tackle that was causing her eyes to become watery.

"Harry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for failing you when you needed me. For being too scared to fight back. For putting you in even more danger that day instead of helping you be in less. I'm sorry you lost your Godfather and I'm sorry that there's nothing I can do to make the pain better."

"Hermione. You have no reason to be sorry. You were scared that's understandable. Who wouldn't be scared facing a monster. I'm sorry for taking out my anger on you. That wasn't fair nor was it right. It's just that, I finally thought I'd get away from them. That this summer I'd never have to go back to the Dursleys again.

That I would never have to live in a house filled with people who resent my existence. That I was done navigating hostile territory for weeks over the summer. That I could finally spend all my time with my real family who love me. She took that away from me.

I was so mad at her. I hated her. I still do. I tried to perform the cruciatus curse on her. It didn't work. She said only those who truly hate someone and wants to see them suffer can perform unforgiveables. But I did, in those moments I never wanted to see someone hurt so badly but I couldn't do it. For that I can't forgive myself."

"Harry, I know I don't remember the nuances of your situation so maybe I'm the worst person you could be talking to right now. But I hope you understand how sincere I am anyway.

I know, I don't even need to remember, that you're such a kind soul. You care so much maybe even too much about those you love. Whether the person was deserving of it or not, you'd never be so cruel as to inflict your own pain on others and deep down you know this.

Even after my incident, even knowing I don't remember any of you. You have all been so kind and caring, just like I haven't even forgot everything. Especially you, Harry I saw how concerned you were, at the ministry when I passed out, when I regained my first memory. Even now when I came to apologise, you were nothing but concerned for my well-being.

I don't remember Sirus but I know for you to love him as deeply as you do that he must have been such a wonderful person. One thing I do know for sure, is that wonderful people will never wish for us to become twisted by grief and misery. They would want us to forgive ourselves and live happy lives filled with love and Harry that's something you deserve. It's something that Sirus would want for you more than anything." Hermione finished her speech, it was more improvised than she had intended but she was glad that her grandmother helped her to know what to say about Sirus. She felt Sirus and her grandmother were similar in the way of being loving and supportive unconditionally.

"I know. It...just. It just hurts." Harry's voice broke and before Hermione could think she was wrapping Harry in the biggest bear hug she could muster.

"I know, I lost my grandmother a couple of years ago. The love in your voice when you mention Sirus makes me think that they were similar in how wonderful they were to us.

It does hurt. But over time, that pain will fade into an ache. The ache will grow less and less painful until one day, you can share your memories about Sirus and simply feel happy. It'll probably take years to get there but I promise to be there for you every step of the way. We all will." She released Harry from the hug, becoming aware of just how intimate this had become.

"Hermione, when did you get so profound?" Harry said half – jokingly, his voice was still filled with anguish but his tone was lighter. He was trying and Hermione was going to be more than supportive.

"What can I say, maybe reading all those books have taught me a thing or two." She grinned but she knew her smile was struggling to reach her eyes.

Harry shook his head, a quiet chuckled escaped him and Hermione's heart leapt in joy, her smile making her eyes sparkle.

"Maybe, you'll have a reading convert on your hands." Harry joked.

"I sure hope so! You have no idea what you're missing! The thrill of a good mystery. The joy of a beautiful romance. The satisfaction of learning something new and exciting from a non – fiction book." Hermione knew she sounded cheesy but she couldn't help it. Reading was so much more than a past time to her, it was the basis of who she is. She knew that sounded dramatic, but her love of reading and learning permeated her entire being. Hermione had no idea what kind of person she would be without her love of books. That's one thing she could never forget.

Harry's bark of laughter drew her out of her thoughts and she was glad that she could pull him out of his grief. If only temporarily.

"So Harry, are you going to finally tell me of some our misadventures together?" She asked. Hermione was genuinely curious plus spending more alone time with Harry is appealing as well.

Harry grinned and his eyes held a teasing glint.

"Of course, if you have time. We've had a lot of them together." He smiled as he said it. Hermione knew then that he was as eager to tell her as she was to listen.

"How about, you start from the very beginning. Maybe it'll help some of my own memories to come back." Hermione said.

"Naturally, Ron and I had just found a compartment to sit in..." Harry started.

Hermione could stay like this all night long.


	6. Chapter 6

**A Blank State of Mind**

**(A/N: Sorry for the delay in uploading of chapters. I'm no longer on holiday so now I'm back to my usual schedule. So from now on I will be uploading once a week but with each upload there will be 1+ chapters.)**

_Chapter 6: Picking Up the Pieces of My Mind_

Unfortunately for Hermione, her and Harry could not stay there all night. In fact, they were almost late for dinner and Hermione just scraped getting back to the hospital wing in time. However, she was too late to avoid a scolding from Madam Pomfrey.

Hermione absent-mindedly listened to the scolding of the nurse as she smiled happily to herself. It felt so much better at least being vaguely informed of what has happened to her in the past. She appreciated Harry walking her through the events of the past few years leading up to now. She was glad that she wasn't so much of a bossy, goody two – shoes as she had been when she was eleven. Although according to Harry, that personality was still remanent but she didn't feel that was quite as true.

Lately, Hermione had a burning desire for justice or maybe it was revenge masquerading as justice. But either way she wanted them to suffer, she didn't want to kill them but she did want for them to live with the guilt and pain of their actions in a cruel and unusual way. She was aware, since Harry briefly mentioned the restricted section in the library and dark magic, that there was probably a way to achieve what she wanted.

Although Harry didn't go into too much detail Hermione sussed out that from their previous years at Hogwarts that they had been in contact with three types of magic and creatures. 'Light' magic which was magic that was considered good and lawful such as stun spells and basic transfigurations. 'Grey' magic which was only lawful with the knowledge and consent of the ministry such as animagi transfigurations. Then there was 'dark' magic which included unforgivable curses and potions which take away free will such as love potions. However, Hermione struggled to see a huge difference between grey and dark magic other than how the ministry decided if it was lawful or not. But for the sake of legality, she was sure she could achieve her aim by utilising light and grey magic alone. If not, well she rather it didn't come to that.

"Miss Granger, are you alright? You seem lost in thought, you've barely touched your food." Madam Pomfrey questioned.

Hermione snapped out of her train of thought, and glanced down at her plate. It was most likely cold now. To appease the medi-witch she took a few bites and swallowed before responding.

"Sorry, it's...it's just a lot of information to process in such a short amount of time. Also I've been doing some thinking as well. When do I get use magic again? Can I use magic if my memory of it has been erased? Would my wand still respond to me? If I can't remember being a witch, am I still a witch?" Hermione, hadn't intended to ask so many questions but now that she had, she was desperate for the answers.

To her dismay, Madam Pomfrey looked uncomfortable but only for a moment. Almost as though she either knew the answers were not what Hermione wanted to hear. Or these were questions that were still being figured out or not even considered. Her brow furrowed and gaze intensified hoping that her pressing stare would coax the answers from the older woman.

Madam Pomfrey had resumed her neutral yet caring expression. She avoided the questions whilst passively reassuring Hermione that the answers would be provided at the right time when they were ready. She managed to contain her annoyance at the obvious dismissal as she waited outside the hospital wing for Ginny to come meet and escort her back to the girls dorm in the Gryffindor tower.

Ginny arrived pretty shortly after Hermione left the wing and the girls started chatting and laughing like no time had passed at all. Ginny told Hermione about how Ron almost choked to death on a piece of chicken and after Neville helped him dislodge the piece of meat, he carried on stuffing his face like nothing happened. Hermione had to laugh, it seems that at least Ron was true to form from what Harry had filled her in on earlier and she was sad that she couldn't be there. She knew she would've had scolded Ron for being a glutton but she also knew that was normal for her and normalcy was something she desperately craved. Yet, looking back on what she was told and remembered it seemed normalcy didn't like her as much as she liked it.

In what felt like no time at all, the two girls arrived in front of a portrait with an elderly, posh fat lady.

"Password, girls?" Her snobby voice rang out through the empty hallway.

"Newt's eye." Ginny responded, the fat lady bowed her head and her portrait swung upwards allowing them to enter the Gryffindor common room.

The room was somehow both luxurious and homely. It was spacious without feeling daunting, the room was draped in scarlet and gold which lit up the room. The fireplace was roaring and dotted around the room were comfy armchairs, sofas and beanbags with a few tables as well. Students of all ages were draped over the furniture and clustered together in groups. Whispers started as Ginny and Hermione made their way over to Harry, Neville and Ron. As they got louder, Hermione noticed they were all saying the same thing.

"Hey does Hermione remember us?"

"Do you think she knows who we are?"

"Well, I heard she lost her memories so that's why-"

"Hey, can she still be here? Shouldn't she be at St. Mungo's?"

And on and on and on it went. Hermione wanted to shout at them all. Tell them to leave her alone. Instead she gritted her teeth and kept walking as though she couldn't hear any of them. Of course she didn't remember them, hell she could barely remember her friends in the entirety of their time together. The whispers began to die off and she noticed that the boys were directing death glares at the participants and her heart swelled with fondness for her boys.

She nodded her thanks at the trio who all gave her warm smiles back and once again Hermione was beyond grateful to have such good friends.

"So uh Mione, we've been thinking and we thought we had a great way to help you recover some of your memories. Although it wasn't entirely our idea and the magic was too complex without help." Ron rambled, Hermione frowned as she wondered what they were referencing.

"Here," Neville handed her a photo album "I know they look like pictures but they're so much more than that. They're all our memories with you. Professor Dumbledore thinks that by showing you them instead of just telling you them. It can really help. With each picture you get to see the entirety of the memory. Dumbledore hopes that it'll help to trigger your latent memories and such." Neville explained.

Everyone looked at her expectantly, Hermione thought it was a brilliant idea but she had a feeling that the man who thought of that was equally or more brilliant. She nodded her consent and saw all of her friends faces light up.

"So where do we begin? I mean Harry talked me through pretty much everything earlier on." Hermione stated.

"That's true but there's also a lot of details that I and the others have missed as we only gave quick run downs of the events so there's a lot that hasn't been touched on yet. I mean there's so much we haven't even discussed." Harry replied "So once again, we should start from the beginning properly this time."

They opened the photo album and saw 'First Year' in neat script written across the top of the first two pages with about a dozen or so photos spread across the top. Hermione smiled, she had a feeling that this time she was going to get it right and remember.


	7. Chapter 7

**A Blank State of Mind**

_Chapter 7: First Year: New Friends and Old Foes_

Hermione studied the beautiful scripture that simply stated 'First Year'. Each picture was titled with little captions underneath that Hermione assumed summarised the events that would take place in the photo.

The first photo showed a picture of her and Neville in a train carriage along with two other girls. She looked at the two nervous and frightened eleven year old children and smiled. Things have really changed. Underneath the picture, it seemed Neville had scrawled _'The first time we met :)'_.

After exchanging looks with the group, Hermione sensed that they were all ready to relive the events of her first year. Ginny looked particularly eager and Hermione guessed that it was because they were both in the same boat. Ginny hadn't started at Hogwarts yet so only heard the stories of first year second hand and Hermione just couldn't remember.

"So, how does it work?" Hermione asked breaking the silence.

"Dumbledore said that it will only begin to show the memory once you touch the photo Hermione. So in that case, the rest of us should touch the photo first and then Hermione touches it so we can all view it together." Ginny explained. The others muttered their understanding and agreement. Once everyone was touching the photo, Hermione placed her finger on it.

There was a sudden lurch in her stomach, and Hermione felt herself being propelled forward in a dizzying fashion. The room swirled and changed around her as her surroundings dissolved into those of the train carriage and she was no longer sitting in the Gryffindor common room but was now staring at her younger self who was perched opposite Neville.

Hermione felt unnerved as the group of them stared at younger versions of her and Neville.

"Can they see us? Or hear us?" Hermione pondered as she wondered why the children were not reacting to their presence.

"No, these our memories. The events have already happened and can't be changed at least, not this way. We're more like bystanders than anything." Harry answered.

Hermione turned her attention back to herself and the other three children.

"My name is Lavender Brown. Since I'm a pureblood I was already aware that I was coming to Hogwarts. I'm so excited. I mean I heard stories about it from my cousins and parents and everyone else in my family but I can't believe I'm finally going. My parents met at Hogwarts and so did their parents and their parents before them! Isn't that romantic. I can't wait to meet my charming wizard." The young girl squealed. Hermione rolled her eyes and was glad to see that her younger self was in sync.

She noticed Neville stifled a laugh as he saw how in sync Hermione was with herself. She wanted to be annoyed with the mellow boy but couldn't bring herself to do so and was holding back a wry smile in spite of herself.

"I'm Parvati Patel and my twin Padma is also coming to Hogwarts with me. Although she's wondered off now and I don't know when she'll be back. We're like Lavender as we already knew Hogwarts was in our future but that doesn't make it any less exciting. I'm beyond ready to start learning potions. I know there's no use for wands in potions but it does seem pretty cool, mixing a bunch of ingredients together and being able to poison someone or something." The girl grinned and Hermione saw her younger self smile back at her.

The group of older teens shook their heads or chuckled. Hermione now remembered hearing Parvati complain bitterly after their first potions lesson with Snape. Her desire for potions had dwindled dramatically after the speech he gave. Hermione wondered how she could forget it.

"Well...I'm – my name is Neville. Neville Longbottom." The portly boy paused and chewed his lip, unsure of how to continue. The present Neville grimaced witnessing how awkward his younger self was. "I'm a pureblood like Lavender but my grandmother feared I was going to be squib. Thankfully I'm not as I wouldn't hear the end of it. I don't care too much about the subjects but I do want to be sorted into Gryffindor. My Nan says that's the only house worth being in. But I think I'm more of a Hufflepuff. I'm not much of anything, I'm not brave, cunning or clever." His tone was dejected and Hermione just wanted to sweep the young boy into her arms and comfort him.

"You know, I wish I could tell myself that everything would be better than I thought. To have a little confidence in myself. I still have to work on that confidence thing now but I've come a long way." Neville attempted to sound casual but Hermione could hear the hints of emotion in her voice and voiced her agreement. They focused back onto the shy eleven year old boy.

"On the bright side, my family were so proud of me that they brought me a pet. A toad actually, his name is Trevor -" Neville had gone to reach for the toad in his pocket to find nothing but empty space there. His face fell and he appeared to be almost on the verge of tears.

"Oh no. I've lost him. My nan's gonna kill me." Neville sobbed.

"Don't worry. We'll find him Neville." Everyone turned to focus their attention on the bushy haired pre teen.

"I'm Hermione Granger. Muggleborn. I've read every book on our assigned reading list at least once. I'm particularly fond of Hogwarts: A History by Bathilda Bagshot. I hardly believed in magic until Professor McGonagall came to my house then all the strange incidents made a lot more sense. I'm not sure which house I'll be sorted into but like Neville I would want to be a Gryffindor. What I really want, most of all, is to do well in school and show some students here that being a muggleborn is not a disadvantage." Despite her young age, her tone was indignant and of someone much older.

Hermione's face soured as she remembered over hearing the Malfoys and other distinguished pure blood families bemoan the acceptance of muggleborns like herself at Hogwarts. All in subtleties and hushed tones of course, as those pretentious pricks prided themselves on their reputations more than anything. But those snide remarks stung nonetheless. Hermione never realised just how much she took them aboard until now. Her need to make the top of the class went beyond simply enjoying school and making good grades. All these years later she was still trying to prove herself to people like them. The thought made her sick.

She noticed that her friends had come to the same conclusion she did. As they realised her obsessive need to study and perfect her work went beyond being passionate and stemmed from a deep rooted inferiority complex. She noticed their looks of pity and sympathy. It burned Hermione up so badly, the things she would say to her younger self. She sighed.

Neville and Hermione's younger selves left the carriage. Hermione consoling the distraught boy, reassuring him that they would find his toad. The memory began to fade and dissolve and before Hermione knew it she was sitting back inside the common room.

"So Hermione, did it work? Is it working?" Ron asked enthusiastically. Harry and Ginny's faces were just as eager for the response.

"Yeah, it's working. I now have Snape's speech from out first potions lesson ingrained in my brain again." Hermione beamed then in a scarily perfect mockery of Snape she donned a frown and drawled

"There is no wand waving or silly incantations in this class." She glowered at the group who were barely able to contain their laughter. "I can teach you to bewitch the mind and ensnare the senses. I can tell you how to bottle fame, brew glory and even put a stopper on death." Hermione finished with intentions to go on but the group had now dissolved into fits of laughter.

Ron and Ginny had gone a bright shade of scarlet from laughing so hard. Harry was in tears from her caricature of Snape and Neville was wheezing. Once they had all calmed down. Ginny spoke.

"Hermione. That was bloody brilliant." she chuckled. "I'm really glad you are starting to remember, properly this time. You also seem more at ease. You'd never mock a teacher before this but now you're all in. I mean it's still you but like a different you. Does that make sense?" Ginny wondered aloud.

The boys nodded in agreement and Hermione explained why she could see why they felt that way. She knew she had undergone a change in personality. She felt different yet the same. Better, as though she had been cured of an illness she didn't know she had.

"Ah, would you look at that. It's our time to shine Harry." Ron grinned and Hermione studied the next picture. All the caption said was '_Pleasure.__' _Hermione raised her eyebrow in response to Ron but all she got in return was a shrug. Harry who read the caption was also chuckling at her expense. She rolled her eyes and once again the lurch propelled them all into the past.

"Excuse me. I'm Hermione Granger and this is Neville Longbottom. We're looking for a toad, have you seen him?" Hermione demanded in a quite a bossy tone. Hermione could see now why she had a hard time making friends when she was younger.

"No sorry." A young Harry replied, the young version of Ron was being true to his older counterpart and stuffing his face with sweets.

The younger Hermione's eyes widened in disbelief as she took a closer look at Harry who was looking uncomfortable under her gaze.

"Holy crickets! Are you Harry Potter? I've read so much about you. About how you defeated You – Know – Who and your parents. You're even mentioned in Hogwarts: A History" Hermione hoped Harry didn't noticed the blush that was spreading across the cheeks of her younger self. Whilst younger Harry was oblivious the older one was aware and wiggled his eyebrows at Hermione in a teasing manner. She smiled and rolled her eyes in response.

"And you are?" The bossy girl asked with a hint of disgust in her voice as she spared a glance in Ron's direction.

"Won, Won Theasly." The boy muffled, cheeks bulging with sweets.

"It's a pleasure." Her younger self replied but the tone said it was anything but a pleasure for her to be meeting Ron Weasley.

"Well, we'll be on our way. You two should be getting changed into your robes soon we'll be pulling in shortly. It was lovely meeting you Harry. Ron, you have something right here." The young girl pointed to the corner of her nose.

Hermione and Neville left the carriage and as the door shut behind them. Hermione saw Ron and Harry discussing the aftermath of their visit.

Like before, the memory disintegrated until they were back in the common room.

"Neville, how come you didn't speak when we met Ron and Harry?" Hermione hadn't noticed how much she dominated the conversation. In fact she had forgotten that the shy boy was even in the carriage with them. Judging by the looks on Ron and Harry's faces they too had forgotten about Neville.

"Well. I was starstruck. I was too petrified to say anything. I could hardly breathe! Every birthday growing up, my Nan would remind me that Harry and I shared the same birthday but I was nothing like him. She would say how brave and gifted a boy like Harry must be and how I was not like Harry.

She hoped by reminding me that some of the braveness and propensity to magic outside of herbology would rub off on me. She doesn't do it so much now, especially after hearing about the battle of the department of mysteries." Neville's tone was light enough but Hermione and the others could hear the weariness and despondency that lay beneath.

"Neville. I can't wait for the day your grandmother realises just how brave and talented as a wizard you really are. In your own right. If anything, I should be trying to mirror you, rather than the other way round." Harry comforted. Hermione, Ron and Ginny nodded along and Hermione marvelled at how Harry always knew how to say the right thing at the right time.

The next picture showed a class of anxious eleven year olds in robes several sizes too large. The caption underneath read 'It's leviOsa not levioSA'. Upon reading this aloud, the group once again dissolved into fits of laughter for the second time that night. When the others had calmed down (since Hermione refused to laugh along at her own expense although she did smile). Ginny broke the momentary silence.

"Hermione, now with this memory you will finally get to see your mockery of Snape come to life. "

"Well in that case, what are we waiting for?" Hermione pressed, eager to relive her first days of lessons at school.

_Potions_

As the students trudged down to the dungeons, Hermione couldn't help but think about how depressing this part of the school was. Unlike the rest of the school that is filled with large windows, ornate portraits and dozens of lingering students the dungeons were devoid of all that.

In fact, the dungeons were sparse, with students quickly moving from the classrooms to where they would be heading next. Almost as if no one spent any unnecessary time to linger. Which Hermione found peculiar, sure the dungeons were not the most inviting place to spend time in but she doubted that would stop all of the students in question.

The students filed into a single line. A few bumps in the line were formed here and there as clusters of students who had gathered in groups to discuss the lesson ahead.

"Well I heard, that Professor Snape is incredibly strict." One girl whispered.

"Snape is a git, especially to any student who doesn't belong to his beloved Slytherin house." Dean said.

"Beloved is a strong term. I mean is Snape even capable of love?" Sean countered sparking laughter amongst the gryffindors.

She noticed the slytherins were gathered in a huddle, with the odd furtive glance in their direction. Hermione had a bad feeling about this.

"Oi, Schlongbottom. You'd be bricking it if you knew any better." Malfoy sneered as he swaggered over to the group of gryffindors.

Neville who had been laughing stopped and paled slightly as Malfoy and his group approached them.

"What do you want Malfoy?" Ron snarled.

Malfoy didn't let Ron or any of the gryffindors' hostility phase him and continued his taunting.

"Oh Weasel, didn't see you there. I'm surprised you could even afford the equipment for potions. It would be quite pricey for someone like you. Although that book has seen better days." Malfoy gestured to Ron's battered potions textbook that was sitting in his cauldron. The slytherins sniggered as Ron began to flush a bright red.

"You know what Malfoy, you can take that sneer and shove it up your ar-"

"Silence." Professor Snape hissed. "Hurry up and get inside, no more of my time will be wasted."

The class filed into the potions room in complete silence. Silence that was so heavy it crushed anyone who dared to think about breaking it.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and art of potions making. I don't expect you to be able to understand the understated beauty of a simmering cauldron or the true power behind the magic that is potions. Although some of you may feel this is a lesser form of magic than your other subjects.

There is no silly wand waving or incantations here. I can teach you to bewitch the mind and ensnare the senses. I can tell you how to bottle fame, brew glory and even put a stopper on death.

Although, a casual glance at this class proves that none of you appear to be exceptional and I doubt that any of you will surprise me by proving me wrong."

Hermione decided immediately that she would prove Snape if it was the last thing she'd do.

"Look here, it's our local celebrity. Harry Potter." Snape breathed.

The two shared a look and Hermione could tell that the dislike was mutual.

After losing points for Gryffindor and earning the everlasting ire of Snape thanks to Harry, the class set off to prepare their potion for curing boils.

Snape passed by Hermione's cauldron without incident. No praise but no criticism. Normally if a teacher had not praised Hermione's work she would be outraged but in the case of Professor Snape she decided that no comment was perhaps the biggest reward of all.

_Hiss, bubble, spit._

Hermione turned to the sound of where the cauldron was coming from. Seamus and Neville had been paired up and Hermione couldn't think of a worst combination.

"What exactly have you imbeciles done?" Snape hissed as he stepped out of the way of the potion which began to seep across the floor.

Neville howled and moaned in agony as the potion burned his skin and angry red boils popped up across his skin. Seamus' cauldron was completely distorted and didn't even resemble metal anymore but much more like a pile of smouldering plastic.

"Class is dismissed." Snape snarled as he escorted Neville to the infirmary.

"Ouch, Neville that looked like it hurt...a lot." Ginny commented.

"It did but Madam Pomfrey fixed me in a jiffy, I still feel bad that I ruined Seamus' cauldron though." Neville chuckled.

_Flying_

Hermione was scared. Terrified even.

"You know Hermione, you can't find the answer to everything inside a book." Harry asked.

Well she can bloody well try!

"Well actually I have done a lot of reading about quidditch and flying in general." Hermione rebutted.

"Well let's see how much your books will help you in a minute then." Ron teased.

Standing out on the quidditch pitch waiting for the arrival of Madam Hooch, Hermione's nerves were out of control.

"Hey, Hermione do you still remember any of your tips from those flying books by any chance?" Neville asked.

Hermione smiled and as she began reciting what she read her nerves were quelled.

"Welcome to flying class first years. I'd like you to think of your brooms as horses. Show the slightest fear and they'll know. Now what we're going to do today is make sure your technique for holding your broom is correct and hover a few inches above the ground. So what you're going to do is yell 'Up!' and command your broom to your hand. Let's get to it."

"...Up.." Hermione's broom twitched and rolled over. She tried again. Same result. Again and again she tried but her broom would only twitch and that was on a good attempt. Otherwise her broom would lay there taunting her.

"Up!" Harry commanded, his broom flew to his hand instantly and Hermione felt the hot fire of jealousy burn in her belly.

"Looky here, seems we have a natural flyer on our hands. Good work Potter."

"UP!" Neville shrieked, fear completely permeating his voice. The broom shot into Neville's hand and just kept rising and rising. Neville was one, two, three feet off of the ground and still rising high into the air.

"Down! DOWN!" Neville cried and then whimpered.

The broom halted in the air and for a moment looked as though it might be on its way back then. This was the wrong assumption to make.

The broom jerked, up, down, up, down and then it zoomed off into the distance towards the school. Performing loops and twirls before its momentum dropped right down to zero.

Neville crashed into the school wall with a sickening crack. The handle of the broomstick had gotten stuck in a crack in the wall and the force had cause the handle to splinter in two, jaggedly down the middle.

For a split second Neville's face was lightened by relief which gave way to pure terror as he fell about ten feet onto the ground and landed with a sickening crunch.

Hermione gasped and like a hive mind, the class surrounded Neville. Whispers of mockery and sympathy were abound. Madam Hooch roughly shoved her way through the class to get to a pitiful Neville whose face was covered in snot and tears.

"Oh you silly boy. Come along, Madam Pomfrey can sort you out." Madam Hooch said but there was no trace of her usual hardness to her voice and escorted Neville to Madam Pomfrey for the second time that week.

Poor Neville.

The group laughed.

"Neville, with how often you see Madam Pomfrey you should ask for a loyalty card." Harry quipped causing both Harry and Hermione to burst out laughing. Neville, Ron and Ginny looked on confused.

"What's a loyalty card?" Ron asked.

After Harry and Hermione explained the concept of a loyalty card to the purebloods, they chuckled weakly at the joke.

"Merlin knows that by now I would have earned a reward." Neville joked.

"Looks like that idiot dropped his rememberball." Malfoy mocked, casually throwing and catching the sphere in his hand.

Harry strode over to Malfoy and although Hermione tried to intervene before she knew it they were both flying in the air.

The most bizarre thing about that lesson wasn't Neville's freak accident but it was how Harry became the youngest seeker in over one hundred years at Hogwarts.

_Defence Against the Dark Arts_

Hermione hated with a passion to insult teachers but in this case it couldn't be helped.

Professor Quirrel was the definition of pathetic. The man shook and trembled before he even took register. He was so pitiable that Hermione couldn't even feel sympathy for him, only disgust.

The lesson was incredibly dull, both to remember and witness.

No practicals, no interesting events and nothing interesting was mentioned. Quirrel recounted some tall tales about services he provided. He dispatched some werewolves in Albania. How he got his turban, getting rid of zombies for an African prince. His turban. Did his turban move? No, Hermione must've been seeing things.

Present day Hermione now knows she was not seeing things as judging by the grim faces of her friends around her. This man was bad news.

_Transfiguration_

With the increasingly familiar lurch, Hermione found herself in a classroom abuzz with chatter. The source of the chatter was evidently the tawny cat with a wizard hat that was perched rigidly on the desk. Professor McGonagall.

The class turned as the sounds of two boys filled the hallway next to the classroom.

"Hurry up Ron, we're already late." panted Harry.

"I'm coming, you try running on a full stomach." puffed Ron

The two boys clattered into the classroom and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank Merlin. I thought we we're gonna be late. Bloody hell, what's with the cat?" Ron asked.

"Language Weasley." McGonagall admonished as she transfigured from cat to lady. Ron was pale as a sheet, Hermione was scared he may pass out from shock. McGonagall seemed unexpected by the shock she's induced in both Harry and Ron. "Potter, Weasley take your seats."

"Welcome first years to the wonderful magic of transfiguration. Transfiguration is a dangerous and complicated magic but it is also wonderful magic that can achieve so much but it also requires a lot of work and dedication.

And this starts with careful note taking." McGonagall continued.

"When do we get to turn into animals and stuff?" Seamus asked.

"Not for a very long time, Mister Finnigan and definitely not without years of hard work and dedication. Your first task will be turning a matchstick into a needle." With a flourish of her wand the matchstick in McGonagall's hand went from woody and flimsy to silver, pointy and hard.

Hermione saw everyone in the class eyes widen despite themselves. After many complicated notes and formulas it was now time for the class to try transforming their own matchsticks.

Out of sync, out of time and out of patience the class of first years had all but exhausted themselves. Their younger selves were frustrated and look cheated. Hermione herself saw that her younger self was struggling to keep her patience until the end. Until something had changed about her matchstick.

"Professor, professor! Have a look, I think I've done it." Hermione squeaked. When she was younger she hadn't noticed the scorn that her comment had attracted.

Professor McGonagall stalked over and studied Hermione's work carefully and then a hint of a smile crept upon her face.

"Now class, have a look at Miss Granger's matchstick. Whilst it has not been transfigured into a perfect needle, it is definitely silver and slightly pointy. Excellent work for a first year. Well done Miss Granger." Hermione beamed with pride at Professor McGonagall's comments but that pride was soon dampened by the massive amount of homework that McGonagall assigned them. Hermione contained her sigh, it looked like she would be spending a lot of time in the library, she just hoped it was a nice library.

_Charms_

Unlike before, the memory itself began to lurch and distort. The group themselves remained strangely static. Was something wrong?

"Does anyone know what is happening right now?" Hermione tried to keep her voice calm.

"Don't worry. Basically some photos contain groups of memories. So when we move from one memory to another inside a picture we stay the same as the new memory forms around us. This displaces the old memory we've just relieved. Pretty cool right?" Ginny reassured Hermione.

Hermione couldn't help but marvel at how complex and wonderful magic could be. Was there anything it couldn't do?

Like travellers being engulfed in the mist, the group was encompassed into the new memory. Charms.

Professor Flitwick enthusiastically greeted each member of the class as they filed inside in groups of two or threes. In no time at all the class had filled up. A low hum of conversation filled the air. Some were discussing the creature that Flitwick was, others were wondering what type of charm they would learn first. Many had heard that Flitwick was as easygoing as McGonagall was strict and so were excited for a relaxed class.

Professor Flitwick cleared his throat and quickly earned the silence of the eager class.

"Welcome first years. I'm Professor Flitwick and I will be your charms teacher. Charms is a wonderful subject and can be a lot of fun." At this phrase, the class burst into excited chatter and it took a few minutes for Professor Flitwick to restore order to the class.

"Now that I have your attention, we really should begin taking some notes." For the second time during the lesson, the class became disruptive as groans filled the air. Many of the complaints about transfiguration and potions. However, Professor Flitwick had a twinkle in his eye that Hermione noticed. She dropped her quill, there wouldn't be any notes this lesson.

"Well, it is your first lesson so perhaps we should focus on practical work instead." The class shared glances of relief and smiles bloomed all around the room.

"Now, we shall start with the levitation charm. Wingardium Leviosa. The wizard who invented this charm was actually trying to achieve unaided flight but stumbled upon this gem instead.

The key to succeeding in charms is both in how you say the incantation as well as the movement of your wand. If even one of these is off by the slightest you will fail to cast the charm. So watch carefully, wingardium leviosa." Professor Flitwick pointed his wand at a feather on his desk and with a flourish of his wand, the feather began to float off of the desk.

It was dreamlike, the way the feather floated so gently upwards swaying from side to side as though it was riding a summer breeze. Hermione was enraptured and so was the rest of the class. This was the first spell they would be learning after all. It also didn't seem too difficult.

"It's all in the wrists, swish and flick. Swish and flick. Say it with me now and practice with your arms. Wands down, let's go." Flitwick instructed.

"Swish and flick, swish and flick, swish and flick..." the class repeated with a mixture of half – hearted or overly ambitious flourishes. After about five or so minutes of this exercise, Professor Flitwick decided to distribute the feathers and gave the class the rest of the lesson to practice.

Hermione cracked her knuckles, she was still riding her high from transfiguration, she was determined to get this feather to float.

She observed her classmates around the room.

Malfoy was jabbing his feather rather violently, his pronunciation was perfect but his wrist movement was all wrong. He thrusted his wand forward and pointed it up, he obviously didn't pay attention to the exercise just now.

Parvati had mastered the wrist movements. Gracefully her wand cut through the air in perfect twirls.

"Wingardium levioSA." She said confidently, the feather twitched (although that may have been the breeze since the window was open) and remained still. Parvati huffed in frustration.

After watching a few more of her fellow students, Hermione had gathered two things.

Around most of the class had mastered the hand movement but were pronouncing the spell incorrectly. The most popular mispronunciations were: 'WINKgardium leviosa' or 'wingardium levioSA' . Hermione realised that the wrong pronunciations coupled with correct wand movements led the feather to twitch and move but it would fail to levitate

A small minority had the wrong hand movement but perfect pronunciation. Both Harry and Malfoy fell into this category. Malfoy had neither the 'swish' or 'flick' down whilst Harry 'swished' but forgot to 'flick' and let his wrist flop limply downwards instead of upwards.

Now Hermione knew exactly what to do, and prepared to get this feather levitating.

Swish and flick. She was ready.

"Wingardium leviOsa." Swish and -

Her wand clattered to ground when she jumped in shock. Somehow Seamus Finnigan had managed to set his feather on fire. After a couple of minutes, Flitwick had managed to put out the flaming feather, calm the class and give Seamus a new one.

Hermione looked back at her feather, it had slid across her desk away from her. It had moved about a foot.

"Good work Miss Granger, your feather has almost taken off. Keep going." Professor Flitwick encouraged.

She smiled, this time for sure.

"Wingardium levioSA, wingardium levioSA.." Ron bellowed repetitively next to her. With each levioSA his voice and hand movements became increasingly dramatic. The swish and flick that was taught had been long abandoned.

Ron huffed and rolled his wand away from him in disgust. He pushed out his chair and turned to talk to Harry, his entire attitude was incredibly grating and ruining Hermione's concentration. Perhaps if she taught him how to do it, she would finally be able to concentrate in peace.

Hermione took a deep breath, she didn't want to be rude and interrupt but she also wanted to get on with this. She waited, Ron had started complaining about not being able to get his feather to move. She pounced.

"You do realise that you have to do the 'swish and flick' motion as well as pronounce it correctly. It's leviOsa not levioSA." Hermione felt uncomfortable as they both stared at her blankly for a moment. They frowned at each other. Just as she was about to turn away, Ron snapped at her.

"If you're so bloody clever why don't you do it then!"

Fine. She was only trying to help.

"Wingardium leviOsa." Hermione said as she twirled her wand through the air. Her feather began to lift higher and higher off of her desk. Floating through the air. By this point the class had stopped to watch her feather.

"Excellent. Excellent, Miss Granger! Ten points to Gryffindor." Squeaked Flitwick.

She turned back to smile at Ron, maybe next time he would heed her advice. He glowered back at her, maybe not.

As the bell rang the class gathered their belongings and headed out of the door. Hermione would admit she was a slow packer but she thought at least someone would have waited for her.

Making friends was incredibly difficult but her parents reassured her it was normal for people not to have made their friends yet. But last time they had written to her, they did send a short book on how to make friends so maybe she wasn't so normal.

She had gotten used to spending lunchtimes alone, at the library but today was a new day. Today she was going to go have lunch with everyone else and even talk to some people. Maybe she would start with Ron and Harry and explain to Ron how she didn't mean to offend him.

Speaking of Ron and Harry they were just ahead of them, she could start by saying hi now.

"It's leviOsa not levioSA." Ron mimicked her. "Honestly, she's insufferable no wonder she doesn't have any friends."

Insufferable. Is that how everyone thought of her?

Maybe secondary school really wasn't that different from primary school. Hermione felt tears prick her eyes. Perhaps the library wouldn't be the place she spent the rest of lunch.

She hurried to girls toilet. Trying her best to see through the tears.

The memory dissolved and faded away. The group were back in the gryffindor common room where a stifling silence descended upon them.

Before they could say what was on their minds both the good and the bad, Angelina Johnson descended down the stairs that led to the girls dormitory.

The seventh year, whilst not a prefect, held a lot of respect amongst the gryffindors and was essentially treated as such by pretty much all of the students.

"What are you all doing up? It's late. Not to mention the fact we'll be leaving Hogwarts tomorrow which means you'll have to talk to McGonagall and Dumbledore about your summer arrangements. Get to bed." Angelina stated, her tone was mired with authority

and none of them were brave enough to challenge her.

They mumbled goodnight to each other and went to bed.

Hermione couldn't help but wonder when she will be able to read through the rest of the album and regain the rest of her memories. But at least this was a start.


	8. Chapter 8

**A Blank State of Mind**

_Chapter 8: Summer Awaits_

**(A/N: Sorry for the long delay in this chapter. This story has not been abandoned. The next chapter will be uploaded by the end of July at the latest. I've been incredibly busy as of late. Until the end of July it'll stay that way but the story will continue nonetheless. Thanks, enjoy the chapter.)**

Before Hermione had even fully woken up she was being chaperoned by McGonagall to Dumbledore's office along with Harry, Ron, Ginny and Neville. Hermione was unhappy to have her morning interrupted she was intrigued.

Professor Dumbledore was an enigmatic and intelligent man and she hoped that the reason for the early morning meeting would lead to some exciting developments in regards to everything that has happened.

"Chocolate frog." Professor McGonagall said and just like that the gargoyle swung out of the way revealing a narrow staircase that spiralled upwards. As they ascended up the staircase, Hermione was unsure what to expect.

The office was beautiful. It was grand and eccentric just like the man who smiled upon their arrival. The walls were lined with portraits of former headmasters, some of whom glanced upon the visitors with curious eyes. Each corner had peculiar instruments in many metallic colours such as bronze, silver and gold. A couple appeared to have been used recently but many were covered in a thin layer of dust. A phoenix was perched on a stand, its intelligent eyes met Hermione's gaze and she felt as though this bird somehow knew something she didn't. But that's crazy, right?

"Good morning to you all, how wonderful it is to see your bright and happy faces this early?" Dumbledore greeted with the omnipresent twinkle in his eye. Hermione took one look at her friends and it took every ounce of self control she had not to burst out laughing. Were they all such miserable bastards in the morning? Judging by Ginny's death glare that was directed at the floor, Hermione assumed the answer was always.

"Now first things first, Miss Granger how are you enjoying the little photo album your friends have put together for you?" Dumbledore asked. Everyone turned to face Hermione.

"It's honestly amazing Professor, with each photo I remember that specific memory as well as any incidental ones as well. How did you even go about creating such an artefact? I imagine the magic was incredibly complex, did Professor Flitwick help you? I imagine it was more to do with charms than any other subject." Everyone chuckled at her response but she couldn't help it. She was genuinely curious.

"I'm glad to see your curious nature is still intact as well as your love of learning. Yet that is a discussion for another day. Have you used any magic since that day?" Dumbledore inquired.

"No, I haven't. It didn't even occur to me to try and cast a spell." She frowned.

"How about you give it a go Miss Granger?" Dumbledore implored.

Hermione tried to take a deep breath. Once again, all eyes were on her but this time it felt like a crushing burden. What if she couldn't use magic despite remembering her experiences. Her breathing quickened and it felt out of her control.

Ron and Neville looked encouraging but doubtful. Did they think the same way she did? That she couldn't do it, that she would have to leave magic behind forever. Ginny smiled at Hermione but it didn't reach her eyes. Ginny's eyes were expressive as ever, the usual warmth was replaced by a pressing hardness. It was as though the young girl's eyes were boring a hole into Hermione's skull. Her head began to tingle, she averted the gaze and instead caught Harry's eyes.

Harry was the hardest to read like McGonagall. Both faces were impassive, empty just waiting. Except his eyes gave something away. It was a glimmer of what exactly? Hope, despair? Hermione couldn't tell.

Dumbledore's blue eyes never left Hermione. His focus was as intense as ever.

She couldn't do it, it was too much pressure. She felt as though she was going to burst, her whole body was buzzing, tingling. A crawling sensation was tickling the hairs on the back of her neck. She felt as though her breathing had lost all semblance of normalcy. She just needed it all to stop.

There was no sound as millions of fragments of glass showered the office. The panes of the windows for a moment appeared fine. Then one by one, dozens by dozens, hundreds by hundreds the shards of glass began to fall and swirl. A deadly snowstorm that circled just outside the windows.

Dumbledore, with a swift wave from his wand, restored the glass as though nothing had happened.

"Well Miss Granger, you certainly can use magic. Your accidental magic definitely has a flair for the dramatic wouldn't you agree? How about we start we a simple spell. How about the levitation charm." Dumbledore suggested.

Hermione nodded along dumbly. She could hardly believe she did that and judging by the faces of everyone else in the room, neither could they.

"Wingardium leviosa." Hermione pointed her wand at the stone that was sitting on Dumbledore's desk. It rose swiftly into the air and precisely followed the movements of Hermione's wand. After a minute or so, she lowered the stone back on the desk.

"That's bloody brilliant Hermione! I thought you might be a squib or something but Ginny said 'don't be ridicu-OW!" Ron's recount of what Ginny had said was interrupted by Ginny delivering a sharp elbow jab to Ron's side.

"What Ron was trying to say, is that we're all really glad that you can use magic again Hermione." Harry translated. He smiled warmly at her and it took everything in Hermione not to blush. She smiled back and maybe they both held each other's gaze for a moment too long. But it felt too short to her.

Yet just like that the moment was over. Hermione wished she had more time to spend with Harry alone. Just like the evening on the astronomy tower but things had been so hectic recently. Maybe during the summer she could get him on his own and...

"Miss Granger." Professor McGonagall's sharp voice snapped her out of her day dream.

"Were you listening to what Professor Dumbledore was saying?" McGonagall continued.

"Um...well.." Hermione tried to think of something to say, desperate to buy some time for herself.

"What I was saying Miss Granger, was that you'll all have the first week of summer to spend with your families. During this time Miss Granger, I would like you to finish going over the memories stored in the photo album during this time.

When I gather you all together again, I will explain everything." Dumbledore summarised for her, she flushed red from embarrassement of being caught zoning out instead of listening.

Shortly after this speech, they were all dismissed. The group of gryffindors chatted about everything under the sun. How glad they were that their exams were done. The boys spent a long while debating quidditch. Ginny was also quick to join in for that discussion whilst Hermione and Neville listened for a bit. Then Neville and Hermione entertained their own conversation about the new Herbology book he was reading. It sounded incredibly interesting and Neville was kind enough to agree to let Hermione borrow it at some point.

Upon entering the common room, the boys went up to their dormitories whilst the girls headed to their own. After all, they needed to pack.

As soon as Hermione had entered her room she was pleasantly surprised to see that Ginny followed in behind her and quickly shut the door behind her. In return to Hermione's quizzical glance, Ginny just shot her a mischievous smile.

Hermione noted that both Lavender and Parvati's belongings were gone. Since both girls were notorious for cutting it fine, Hermione couldn't help but feel that Ginny may have been involved in clearing the room.

Ginny giggled and Hermione did not like that glint in her eye.

"So, you and Harry?" She started.

Oh here we go, thought Hermione.

"What about me and Harry?" Hermione decided that playing dumb was the best strategy.

"Don't play dumb with me Hermione Jean Granger!"

"I'm not playing dumb Ginny, I'm just merely trying to see what you're implying about me and my _friend_ Harry." Even as Hermione said the word friend, she knew that was not how she felt about Harry and definitely not how he wanted to view her.

"Come off it! I've seen the way he looks at you. How you look at him." The red – head waggled her eyebrows suggestively, she grinned at Ginny before realising what she had just said.

"Wait, how does he look at me?" Hermione asked, she tried to sound interested and aloof as opposed to desperate but the look on Ginny's face said she had failed miserably at that.

"Well since you're just friends with platonic interests. I'm sure it doesn't matter to you. Yet Harry has sneaked some...sweet looks in your direction. There is other information of course but you wouldn't be interested in such idle gossip. Right Hermione?" Ginny was a master of manipulation. Hermione had to check she wasn't meant to be a slytherin.

"Fine. I give. I have a stupid giant crush on Harry and I think he's cute. There, happy." Hermione admitted, Ginny grinned at her but before she could say what she wanted, Hermione struck her an irresistible deal.

"We'll gossip to our hearts' content but only if you help me pack."

"Fine."

Ginny laid on Hermione's bed whilst Hermione did most of the packing. Although Ginny claimed she was being incredibly helpful by crossing items off of Hermione's list. Meanwhile, Hermione was thoroughly enjoying hearing all of the sweet off hand comments he had made about her.

He thought her eyes were sweet and expressive.

He appreciated her vivaciousness especially when she was excited about sharing something new.

He loved (yes he actually used the word 'love') how she was simultaneously becoming a new yet the same Hermione.

The last one was probably her favourite.

Hermione also learnt that Ginny had a crush on Dean Thomas, they spent a lot of time together during the parties that happened after the quidditch games.

Ginny was smitten. Dean was a handsome easy going guy and she could see why Ginny liked him so much.

Hermione advised her to spend some time with him on the train ride home. To which Ginny blushed and shook her head furiously. Damn, it must be a serious crush to faze Ginny.

Hermione was going to have a lot of fun teasing her about it.

"Ginny, Hermione hurry up! We don't want to miss the train!" Ron shouted up the stairs.

Ginny and Hermione haphazardly threw the rest of Hermione's belongings into her trunk. Ginny ran from the room to grab her own trunk and several loud bangs later, the two girls had heaved their trunks down the set of stairs and were on their way to board the Hogwarts Express.

Students of all years were recounting their past year at school, the good and the bad. So – so broke up with her boyfriend. So – so is like totally cute now but last year he was so ugly. Did you hear this or that? Hermione noticed several glances in her directions as well as comments being made about her but she elected to ignore it. Especially since by the start of the new school year, she would be irrelevant in favour of the latest gossip and that was fine by her.

Neville, Ron, Harry, Ginny and herself quickly found a compartment and settled in. Ron had challenged Neville to a game of wizard's chess and the other three were watching. They were pleasantly surprised by Luna who had opted to join them, and was telling them about all of the places and think pieces that were going to be featured in the next edition of the Quibbler. Hermione couldn't help but smile, she loved being with her friends more than anything. Even with all their oddities and quirks.

Neville had unsurprisingly lost to Ron and now brother and sister were facing off in an intense match. Harry was eagerly waiting to play the victor. Hermione was wondering how she could avoid being dragged into this.

"Oh for fu-" Ginny loudly cursed. Hermione chuckled behind her hand, making sure Ginny did not see her. (She could throw a mean bat's bogey hex when she was pissed.) Ginny glowered at Ron and shoved her chess pieces towards Harry, aggressively coaching him so that he wouldn't lose to Ron.

As much as she enjoyed watching Harry squirm, she was beginning to feel a tad bit sorry for him at this point. So, from the mercy of her heart, she decided that Ginny was going to get her flirt on.

"Hey Ginny, wanna track down the trolley lady?" Hermione asked.

"Not now 'Mione. We can just wait until she gets here." Ginny said dismissively.

"Or we can go now before all the best stuff is gone. Maybe run into a certain gryffindor as well..." Hermione led and just as expected Ginny took the bait.

"Harry, I think you got this. Just don't let me come back and find out you've lost. Hermione it's time to go snack hunting. Does anyone want anything?" Ginny finished. Ron immediately started rambling about all the different treats he wanted. Hermione and Ginny decided just to get several of everything, just to be sure.

As they walked down the narrow train corridors, peeping in compartment to compartment, Hermione could tell Ginny was getting nervous.

"What's wrong?" Hermione prompted.

"Gee I don't know, maybe that I'm about to run into a very cute boy and have a very good chance of embarrassing myself." Ginny responded sarcastically.

"Ginerva Molly Weasley. You totally got this. Dean is one of the sweetest people in Gryffindor, as well as having a nice easing going nature. Even if your nervous or feel slightly awkward. He will do everything he can to put you at ease. So honestly, don't sweat it." Hermione beamed at Ginny, she felt that it was a pretty good pep talk.

"Wow. Never thought I'd be told by Hermione Granger of all people to just relax." Ginny chuckled.

With that slick remark, Hermione rolled her eyes and 'gently' pushed Ginny inside Dean's compartment. After Ginny breaking the ice by swearing and threatening to hex Hermione, causing Dean to howl with laughter. Hermione concluded that things were already off to a good start and were already getting better as the two were huddled close, conversing softly.

Hermione chatted with a few others in the compartment before deciding that Ginny no longer needed her. On her way back to Harry and the others she noticed that the trolley lady had already passed by their compartment. She sighed as she prepared for the barrage of questions from Ron.

"What happened Hermione...you said...where..." Ron's rant was delivered at top speed however his mouth was full of sweets, so Hermione had no clue what he was saying.

Harry smiled softly at her before translating. Hermione brushed off most of Ron's indignant remarks, in particular the one about where Ginny had gotten off to. Ron, who was mostly satisfied, returned to demolishing the the large pile of sweets that obscured the table.

Neville occassionaly nibbled but was thoroughly engrossed in his new Herbology book and Hermione doubted that she could get a conversation out of him even if she wanted to.

She decided it was time to heed her own advice and talk with Harry. Yet she found herself glancing longingly and sitting there like an awkward lump. Way to heed your own advice Hermione. She would have slapped herself if she could.

"So Hermione, whilst we're waiting around for Dumbledore do you have any plans this summer?" Harry inquired.

She grinned.

"Well actually my parents and I have arranged to see a play together. It's about a young girl who is lost in time and eventually winds up going insane as she forgets her original life. It sounds fascinating plus it's critically acclaimed." Hermione rambled, discussing the plot more in depth and alternating questions with Harry.

The conversation flowed so easily between the two of them and she found herself getting lost in his gorgeous green eyes. The sounds of Ron chewing and Neville's musings faded into the background to the point where she had forgotten they were there entirely.

She found herself noticing that if you looked closely at the frames of Harry's glasses on the bridge, there was a faint white scratch where frames had been repaired. She noticed that the left side of Harry's face, neck and chest were slightly more tanned than his right side. How when the sunlight hit his eyes the flecks of brown in his eyes looked golden and seemed to dance in his irises.

She was well and truly smitten, especially when he laughed.

"Why are you two looking at each other all goofy. C'mon mate, let's play some more chess." Ron beckoned Harry, who looked almost apologetic at being pulled away from their conversation.

In almost no time at all. Harry had lost many games of chess to Ron, Ginny had returned with her face beet red and the Hogwarts Express had pulled into the station.

Students filed off the train and greetings as well as goodbyes filled the platform. Promises to write and hang out over the summer were echoed, hugs and kisses were exchanged and it truly felt like summer.

As Hermione waved goodbye to her own friends, the photo album began to feel incredibly heavy.

She had a lot of catching up to do.


End file.
